Skip to content 9/18/2026 Without Ignoring Today’s Hot Topics, We Focus on Thinking Biblically in a Changing Culture Sep 18 · 59 min ...more
9/18/2026 Without Ignoring Today’s Hot Topics, We Focus on Thinking Biblically in a Changing Culture
September 18, 2026 · 59 min
Today’s program reviews a SCOTUS Mail-in ballot decision as absentee voting season begins, new regulations on artificial intelligence, constitutional free-speech protections, providing hope and God’s word to Ukrainian soldiers, and thinking biblically in an ever-changing culture.
Series Washington Watch with Tony Perkins - Video
Family Research Council is serving in the kingdom of God by championing faith, family, & freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview.
September 18, 2026 · 59 min · Washington Watch with Tony Perkins - Video
Today’s program reviews a SCOTUS Mail-in ballot decision as absentee voting season begins, new regulations on artificial intelligence, constitutional free-speech protections, providing hope and God’s word to Ukrainian soldiers, and thinking biblically in an ever-changing culture. ...more Show the full description Show less Today’s program reviews a SCOTUS Mail-in ballot decision as absentee voting season begins, new regulations on artificial intelligence, constitutional free-speech protections, providing hope and God’s word to Ukrainian soldiers, and thinking biblically in an ever-changing culture.
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In this video 0:00 Thinking Biblically About Elections and Mail-In Voting19:00 Defending Free Speech on Constitution Day29:30 Bringing the Gospel to Soldiers in Ukraine38:00 Biblical Worldview on Singleness, Israel, and Apologetics
Thinking Biblically About Elections and Mail-In Voting 0:00 Hello. I'm Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council and host of Washington Watch. Thanks for tuning in. Every day, we offer a biblical perspective on the news as well as insightful interviews with elected0:11 leaders, newsmakers, and culture experts. We have a great program planned for you today, but 1st, get up to speed on the top headlines with Washington Stan's news brief.0:26 Welcome to the Washington Stan news brief. I'm Quinn Dellamater bringing you Friday's top stories. The 20 26 midterm election season is officially here. Early voting kicked off0:38 Friday for the general election in Virginia, Minnesota, and South Dakota. Real clear polling predicts a 50 50 split for Democrats and Republicans in the senate with 9 toss-up races.0:50 And in the house, predictions have Democrats with an 8.6 lead. State governor race predictions have these 2 parties split 50 50 again with 8 toss-up races. In other1:02 news, president Donald Trump is set to meet with the United Nations General Assembly this upcoming Tuesday in New York City. Visas have also been granted to Iranian officials so that they1:14 can travel to attend as the war has passed its 6 month mark. Though battered militarily and economically, Tehran has remained defiant against the US,1:26 blocking oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz and further spiking global energy prices.
1:33 Iran wants to make a deal. They're not ready, in my opinion. We're gonna either make a deal that's good or we're not gonna make a deal at all. We've already ended their capability toward getting a nuclear missile. If we
1:44 would not have used our b 2 bombers, we would not we would right now have it ran with a nuclear weapon, and they would use it. They would use it very easily. They are considered the, you look anywhere in the
1:56 world, they're considered the most evil country right now in the world, and they've been that for a long time. They've been that for many, many years. And, you know, it was 47 years I've been hearing for 5 years. The
2:06 truth is it's like 52 years, but it's beyond beyond that. We'll take care of business. We'll, they're they're in a very weak state. We control the armory straight. We control it strongly. We're
2:18 taking out many ships every night.
2:20 And with election day fast approaching, gas prices will most likely be a deciding issue for voters. Triple a reports the national average for gas today is around 4 dollars and
2:32 45 cents per gallon compared to 3 dollars and 32 cents per gallon a year ago. And lastly, the Trump administration is making changes that will affect America's outdoorsmen.
2:45 President Trump announced 2 executive orders that will impact access to America's public lands and waterways as well as wild game populations. Here's what president Trump had to
2:57 say.
2:58 With the 1st order, we're opening up millions of acres of federal land for our hunters and fishers, and Doug and his group really worked hard on it. This builds on our actions in August that opened
3:10 up another 92000000 acres of federal land across 32 states. Does anybody have any idea? You know, when you say, I own 2 acres, and everyone says, well, he's really
3:21 rich. 92000000 acres of federal lands across have been opened up under the Trump administration. We believe that public lands belong to the American people and to the public.
3:33 And after that, the president also shared about a 2nd executive order, which he signed as well.
3:40 The 2nd order I signed today eliminates absurd federal regulations on our saltwater anglers, boaters, charter captains, and coastal communities, something you've been after for
3:51 they say 28 years. I don't know why 28. Why is it so accurate? But they had a long time ago, a little restriction, and then they opened it, and then they restricted it for many, many years. The Biden administration
4:03 tried to bludgeon the boating and maritime industry with a ridiculous boating speed limit of no more than 10 miles per hour. That doesn't sound very exciting.
4:13 The president made his announcement from the White House Rose Garden where he hosted a dinner for over 100 hunters, anglers, and outdoor industry leaders on Thursday evening. I'm
4:25 Quinn Delamater and that's Friday's news. You can dive deeper at the Washington Stand, Family Research Council's outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. We'll be back next time with more
4:37 stories that matter.
4:53 From the heart of our nation's capital in Washington DC, bringing compelling interviews, insightful analysis, taking you beyond the headlines and sound bites into conversations with our nation's leaders and
5:04 newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Washington Watch with Tony Perkins starts now.
5:12 It is Friday, September 18th. Welcome to this edition of Washington Watch. I'm your Friday host, Jody. Hi. So glad to have you joining us today. We've got a
5:24 lot to cover on today's program. The US Postal Service has halted its work on a computer system tied to the Trump administration's mail in ballot restrictions. This comes
5:35 after a Supreme Court ruling that blocked that measure. And Wisconsin congressman Glenn Grossman, who is a member of the House Judiciary Committee, will be joining us shortly to discuss that
5:47 issue and more. Plus, Caleb Dalton, senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom will be joining us to examine the threats facing freedom of speech today as we mark
5:59 the 239th anniversary of the US Constitution. And then there's some new data on the rise of singleness among young men in
6:10 America, and it is raising some very serious and concerning questions. Doctor Sean McDowell, professor of apologetics at Biola University's Talbot School of Theology,
6:23 will be joining us for a biblical worldview discussion and on these findings and what they could mean for future generations. So all this and much more is coming your
6:35 way straight ahead on this edition of Washington Watch. Well, the US Postal Service has stopped
6:46 work on a computer system prompted by President Trump's executive order to restrict mail in voting. Of course, this came after the Supreme Court blocked its implementation ahead of the
6:58 midterm elections. And joining us now to discuss this is Washington watch, and Washington stand reporter Casey Harper. Casey, what in the world is going on with this? How did we
7:10 get here?
7:11 Yeah. Thanks, Jody. A big update here. So as you said, the postmaster general David Steiner confirmed that USPS has halted development of that system while that court injunction remains in place. Now the system was
7:23 designed to support the new rules requiring states to submit voter information through that federal reporter, follow uniform requirements for mail in ballot envelopes after president Trump's executive order. But USPS
7:35 says it will not enforce president Trump's order during this election. It will continue to follow its previous election mail procedure. So they're gonna continue to provide mail in ballots, services for this year's
7:46 midterm election as they have. And it's worth noting, Jody, that early voting already started today in many states.
7:55 Yeah. Speaking, you know, of these elections, as you said, early voting is underway. It's hard to believe. I couldn't I I kinda I know. Shook my head that we're this close, but early voting is at at started today in
8:06 several states, including Virginia. So let me kinda hone in on Virginia. What are some other pretty important ballot measures, particularly for those in Virginia? What can you tell us about that?
8:18 Yeah. That's right. Virginia has a couple of unique ballot measures that are are really significant. They could change Virginia's state constitution for the worst, to be sure. So the 1st proposed amendment would add
8:29 protections for the so called reproductive health care decisions, which, of course, is is just about abortion, and in this case, allowing late term abortion enshrined right in the constitution. It would essentially make
8:40 abortion a constitutional right in the state of Virginia. Now the 2nd proposed amendment, if approved, would redefine marriage in the state. It would change the existing constitutional language from, you know, marriage
8:51 between a man and a woman to marriage between 2 adults regardless of sex, gender, or race. Now, Joe, do these, 2 measures, I don't have to tell you, violate biblical principles? It's something that folks need to be
9:03 praying seriously about.
9:05 Absolutely. Indeed. Indeed. We need to be calling on folks all across the country to be praying, particularly for Virginia. And we need to urge Christians there to get out and vote against these
9:17 unbiblical measures. Casey, let's, look ahead to next week. The senate help committee is expected to take up a couple of big issues in court including an important
9:29 nomination. Can you tell us about that?
9:32 Yeah. That's right. The US Senate Health Committee will hold a confirmation hearing next week for doctor Heidi Overton. That's president Donald Trump's pick to lead the Food and Drug Administration. Now this is expected
9:43 to bring attention back to the abortion drug mifepristone, the chemical abortion pill, which the FDA continues to allow to be sent all around the country, including to pro life states. Now if the senate confirms doctor
9:55 Overton, she will replace FDA commissioner Marty McCary who resigned back in May, Jody.
10:01 Alright, Casey. Thank you so much. We appreciate you getting us kicked off as always. Let's turn back now to the issue of mail in voting and get a congressional perspective. Joining us now to discuss this
10:13 and more is congressman Glenn Grossman. He's a member of the House Judiciary Committee as well as the Oversight Committee, and he represents the 6th congressional district of Wisconsin.
10:25 Congressman Grossman, always good to see you. Welcome back to Washington Watch.
10:30 Well, always glad to be on the show, and you're you're bringing up a very, very important issue. Years ago, when they opened up mail in balloting in the state of Wisconsin, I was the leading person on the floor of the
10:40 state legislature arguing against it. You know, when you have a mail in ballot or absentee ballot of any sort, you never know who filled that out for sure. Right?
10:52 And that is a huge problem. You know, you have a situation in which you and you don't know if that person was coached even if the right person was filling it out. Right? You could have a
11:04 boyfriend or girlfriend weighing in. They can sign it themselves. You can have an, an elderly relative who maybe doesn't understand what's going on, be assisted in in
11:16 filling things out 1 way or the other. So it's a big problem. President Trump had wanted to restrict the mail in balloting. There are other states in which literally every
11:28 voter gets a ballot. Talk about a recipe for disaster. Obviously, you can have a situation in which, an illegal immigrant is filling it out. You
11:40 can have somebody filling it out when it was mailed to an address and that person isn't there anymore. So an old roommate or an old boyfriend, girlfriend is filling it out. It is typical of so many things. And by
11:52 the way, insofar as we have it in Wisconsin, it was something that was pushed by the Democrats. There was a senate majority leader who attached it to another bill. The Republicans did not hold the line, and that's why we
12:03 have it here in Wisconsin. And
12:06 So what do you think? Let let me your your your reaction to the Supreme Court ruling then, was this a matter of just simply timing? I mean, we already have some states that opened up the ballots today,
12:18 started the voting process. So what do you think of the Supreme Court's ruling that, knocks us out of the president's court?
12:27 Well, it it's it's a problem. I can understand why maybe a president should be able to dictate how we do elections. On the other hand, you really don't have a fair election as long as you have a significant number of
12:39 ballots, filled out and you don't know who filled them out. Correct? I mean, that that's what we're gonna wind up having here. 20 years ago, 30
12:51 years ago, if this was done, you wouldn't believe it. Right? I mean, throughout most of our history, you go into most of the ballots are at the polling place. You go into the polling place. Even your husband
13:03 or wife doesn't know how you're voting. Right? It's a private ballot. Well, as we get away from that, we see why it used to be that way. It used to be that way because we wanted honest elections. And Right.
13:15 Like I said, right, if you have a ballot mailed to 1 2 3 Elm Street, you no longer know who lives in 1 2 3 Elm Street, you don't know if it was picked up and signed and returned by somebody before
13:27 the action actual voter got home. It's just a recipe along with so many other things we have today for cheating on elections. Why do some people want photo ID? Why do they not want,
13:38 proof of, citizenship? Why do they want ballots filled out at home, when you're not sure who's actually filling them out? The only reason you want these things, and president Trump hit the nail on the
13:50 head here, the reason they want these things is they wanna cheat. That's why you'd want these things.
13:56 Let me let me before, I let you go, turning to another issue, that's been in the spotlight here in recent, weeks is that of artificial intelligence. Of course, public fears
14:08 have been mounting, in response to warnings from top AI executives and researchers and so forth about potential dangers, stemming from from all of the capabilities they're
14:20 in. But there are some who are calling for Congress to put safeguards in place. What's your take on all of this? Will that happen?
14:30 I don't know whether something will happen because so many people involved in the industry don't want that. I'll tell you what my concern is, Jody, and you can already see it before this in things like Google and that.
14:42 Whoever determines, what AI has to work with determines your view of the world. Right? If a student is
14:54 supposed to write an essay on whatever on the cold war, say, the information that they're gonna use to write that essay is decided by the
15:05 people who make out the AI. Right? And if they wanna downplay the importance of communism, they can downplay the importance of communism. If they want to
15:17 unnecessarily trash certain political figures at the time, who were even heroes at the time, people like Richard Nixon, who did a great job, during the Cold War and a great job
15:29 as US congressman. If they wanna remove that from AI, all of a sudden, students will know what's going on there, or won't know what's going on. So it is a very scary
15:41 thing. It it's very much like 19 84 in the sense that I am afraid when people no longer look for books for information, there's some information
15:53 that, the young people or older people are never gonna know. Right? Once you once you give up and I don't know how to prevent it, but once you give up, the
16:05 ability to look at any books in analyzing the the past of this country, you give up the ability
16:16 to think for yourself. Right? The thinking is being done by by AI, and it's it's a very scary thing. Reminds me very much It really is. TV.
16:27 Yeah. On a related note, this week, the house passed overwhelmingly some, bipartisan legislation named it shielding consumers from higher energy cost,
16:39 particularly when new data centers are building their their communities. But that was 1 of a handful of energy related bills that were passed this week. So what message do you think the
16:51 the House sent this week that the American public needs to know about?
16:58 Well, not without cause. The public is very concerned about these things. They're built by very politically well connected companies. They're very powerful. They'll have an
17:10 impact on, water. They'll have an impact on electricity, and a lot of times very powerful companies. And and they have to maybe maybe,
17:23 make, some municipalities happy, but, obviously, they're gonna affect more than the municipality they're located in. They're gonna affect other municipalities as well. And
17:35 Congress, I don't know they're gonna have other bills in the future, but Congress is making it very clear that they do not want not only, individuals, but municipalities being taken advantage of these
17:46 data centers.
17:49 We've only got about 30 seconds, but, what what are you hearing back home? Are people hearing the message that you just talked about, or is it, kind of going on the radar?
18:00 I'm very scared about what's gonna happen in this election. People should not be voting on whether it's 55 dollars a gallon or 3 50 a gallon. That's gonna go up and
18:12 down. It'll fall in the future. We all know that. We have to think of the big issues like immigration. Are we gonna ruin our country there? DEI, are we that sort of thing, which are
18:24 gonna be there well past November. And, I'm afraid if the public doesn't focus on those issues, it will be a disaster for the future of our country.
18:33 Thank you, Wisconsin congressman Glenn Grossman. Always great to see you. Appreciate you joining us today. Alright. Next, a quiet threat. There's free speech that many are not aware of. We'll discuss it next.
18:45 Don't go away.
18:54 Join us for a time of prayer, inspiration, and action at this year's Pray Boat Stand Summit at Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, Virginia, just outside of Washington, DC. Hear from doctor Ben Carson,
Defending Free Speech on Constitution Day
19:06 Michelle Bachman, Oz Guinness, and more as we work together to build a foundation based on biblical truth. We hope to see you there September 24th through the 26th. To register, visit pray vote stand
19:18 dot o r g. That's pray vote stand dot o r g.
19:22 I think all people really need to have this this type of education. Well, I can tell you that it's been an amazing course period.
19:29 I think this course is a reminder that a biblical worldview should really impact everything. It impacts our government from the federal to the state to the local.
19:46 Family Research Council that explores the connection between biblical principles and American government. In this 6 session video series, FRC president Tony Perkins
19:58 equips participants with a practical understanding of civil government from a biblical worldview.
20:04 I would encourage all people to take it. I almost wish I would have took it earlier that I could have taught my kids this. I wish I had known these things when we were homeschooling because I think children and my adults
20:14 now would just greatly be influenced by that information.
20:17 So I'm an attorney, and for me, it gives me some direct practical knowledge of what I can do to try to impact my legal community to make better legislation, to try
20:29 to encourage legislators to make choices that have a biblical worldview, which is what we really want.
20:34 Any pastor would benefit from taking this course because we are dual citizens. Right? We are citizens of the kingdom of God, but we're also seated citizens of this great land, and that that comes with responsibility.
20:45 Even as someone who has been involved in these types of issues for a while, you're learning little bits and pieces of new stuff all the time. But it's also approachable enough that newer people, younger people, high
20:55 school, college students, they can really glean something from this. So I would encourage everybody to take this course, whether it's the videos, whether it's doing it in person, bring your bible study group through it,
21:06 bring your homeschool group through it, and equip yourself for these challenging days ahead. View the course at f r c dot o r g slash god and government or on the
21:18 Stand Firm app.
21:21 Everyone wants wisdom, but few know where to find it. In Wisdom of Solomon, Toni Perkins takes us on a 24 day journey through Proverbs and Ecclesiastes to discover God's unchanging
21:33 wisdom for our changing times. Each day's study explores key passages, offers practical reflection questions, and focuses on life application. Get it now at f r c dot org
21:45 slash wisdom or text wisdom to 6 7 7 4 2.
21:54 Thank you for joining us today on Washington Watch. Welcome back. I'm your Friday host, Jody Heiss, and glad to have you on board with us. Just a quick quick reminder, our pray vote stand summit is
22:06 just 6 days a week away. Coming up next week, it'll take place September 24th through the 26th at the Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, Virginia, just outside Washington,
22:18 DC. We wanna be sure to have you come join us. So for details to register, text the word summit to 6 7 7 4 2, and we look forward
22:30 to seeing you there. Alright. In case you missed it, yesterday was Constitution Day. That's a day commemorating the formation and signing of the US Constitution by
22:41 39 brave men on September 17th 17 87. That, of course, was 11 years after the declaration of independence in 17 76. But our
22:53 constitution, a historical document that set up the framework for the US federal government. And 3 months after that, the Bill of Rights was added to the constitution. These, of
23:05 course, the 1st 10 amendments written with the intention to protect the American people from government overreach. And leading the way of those, of course, is the 1st amendment,
23:17 which protects freedom of religion, freedom of speech, the press, freedom to assembly, and the right to petition the government. And all this is what we want to focus
23:29 on right now. And joining us to discuss this is Caleb Dalton who serves as senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom's Center for Life. And since joining ADF, he has served on
23:41 multiple teams representing private individuals and government entities to affirm the fundamental freedoms of speech and religious liberty. Caleb, welcome back to Washington Watch. Good to see you.
23:53 Jody, thanks for having me.
23:55 Alright. So Constitution Day, this is 1 of those days really that doesn't get the kind of attention that it deserves, unfortunately. I think many in America really don't understand just how
24:07 special and important this document is. It's not just like any other document. This is a this is something special, isn't it?
24:16 It is. It's incredible document, and it's because the founders had insight into human nature and the world that God made us to live in. The declaration of independence that you'd mentioned as we were starting
24:27 off, it talks specifically about our rights coming from God, not from a government. Right? So when we're talking about the 1st Amendment, for example, that's not a privilege that the government hands out or can take
24:39 away. It's a fundamental human right, and it's something that belongs to us. And 1 of the brilliant things that the founder founders recognized was that power corrupts and absolute
24:51 power corrupts absolutely right. And they said, we are not going to give the government the power to decide what you can and can't say. And that freedom is fundamental to the
25:03 rest of the freedoms that we enjoy, not under only under the constitution, but more broadly in our United States of America.
25:12 Absolutely. And, turning more specifically to the Bill of Rights, there's a reason, that we have the 1st Amendment as the 1st Amendment. I mean, that this reflects priority, doesn't it?
25:24 It absolutely does. If you think about it, if you live in a country where you cannot express your beliefs, you're living in a tyranny, not a democracy or a
25:36 republican form of government. And in such a tyrannical form of government, you're subject to, you know, the power of the government coming to decide what you can and can't say, what and we can talk about these terms
25:47 that are becoming more and more common. And even our country here, these terms like misinformation or disinformation or malinformation, these terms that can now be co opted by the government at
25:59 times to then censor speech that they don't like. And that's where the value of our 1st amendment comes in here in the United States. It prohibits the government from deciding what you can and just can't say, what it
26:11 thinks is misinformation or disinformation, and it allows us, the people, the freedom to hear that information, to use it responsibly, and to speak what we believe
26:23 is true.
26:25 Yeah. And, unfortunately, I mean, we are seeing our rights under vicious attack, and many many people may not be aware that there's even a concerted effort. I mean, this week, you highlighted the censorship
26:37 industrial complex. So let's, you you gotta unfold there, this for us. What is that, and how does it work?
26:45 That is a complex talk topic, but I will try to try to lay it out as quickly as I can. It it's most easily, I think, seen during the COVID era. During that
26:57 administration, we saw a complex web of of nonprofit entities often funded by the government who would research, social media posts, for example, and flag them
27:08 and and say this is misinformation. Then that flag would maybe go to a government agency. The government agency could look at that and say, oh, well, this this information is dangerous. That information
27:20 there is shared with banks, social media companies, even traditional media companies who then do the government's bidding to engage in censorship of American,
27:32 speech. And we saw that happen during that era. We are now seeing that web institutionalized even overseas as well through what's called the Digital Services Act that was
27:44 adopted by the European Union. And you may think, hey, we're here in America. We have the 1st Amendment. We have to worry about what's going on there. But that's actually part of this complex web of censorship. That
27:56 DSA, the Digital Services Act, what it does is it adopts this lowest common denominator. So there's these for example, in Germany, a law that says you can't call a politician an idiot or post memes
28:07 about a politician, for example. Clearly a violation of the 1st amendment here in the United States, but they apply that law to speakers. Let's say you post on x on a formerly Twitter here.
28:20 You post that. It can be censored by these European countries, by the European Union. They can find x if x doesn't delete your tweet, if that makes sense. So we have to
28:32 actually be worried about it here. The head of the EU sent a letter threatening Elon Musk when he had president Trump on x to host an x spaces event saying you may be in violation of the
28:43 Digital Services Act if you host the president of the United States on x.
28:50 Alright. About 30 seconds. What do you say to those who think that they're not going to be a victim of this type of thing?
28:58 Well, I I'm afraid you would have your head in the sand. We know this happened in the last administration, and whenever the government has power, it will abuse it. So we need to use it responsibly. We need to step
29:10 up. There's federal legislation being proposed right now called anti jawboning legislation that would help prevent some of this. We can use, our free speech responsibly to engage with
29:21 our communities. And we can call on our legislators to do the right thing and protect us and and uphold the 1st amendment.
29:29 Thank you so much for joining us today. ADF senior counsel, Caleb Dalton. Great to talk with you. Alright. Coming up, we're gonna share what 1 Alabama based ministry is doing inShow more
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